Bernie Ecclestone at 80: in his own words

"Retire? Why? I need the money, I can't afford to retire. I don't worry.
Age is nothing."

Centre of attention: the world's press are always interested in what Bernie Ecclestone has to sayPhoto: EPA

6:35AM BST 28 Oct 2010

On retirement "People make me laugh when they talk about one year to the next year. One day you're one age and a day later you're another age. It's all nonsense. I'm like Obama, I like to move forward. People retire to die. The way I feel at the moment, why stop? I do it because I enjoy it. And yesterday is gone. I don't care what happened yesterday."

On democracy/Hitler controversy “I get myself into so much trouble when I say these things but I don't think democracy is the way to run anything. Whether it's a company or anything you need someone who is going to turn the lights on and off. We had Mrs Thatcher and when she was in charge she did turn the lights on and off. She brought the country to where it was before it got muddled up again."

On his involvement in QPR "Half the people who get involved in football do it only to satisfy their ego. I suppose we all get caught up in that. It's something I got involved in, not out of choice. I'm probably going to be even more involved shortly. It's a task that needs getting on with. Of course I can pull out - but there are lots of things that could and should be done there. It's mainly commercial things and for me to see if we can get that working better. Once you get me involved that's it. I'm there."

On his job “I don't get any individual pleasure because we don't win races or titles in this job. I'm like most business people. You look back at the end of the year and you see what you've achieved by working out how much money the company has made. That's it."

On his divorce/children "We'd been together 26 years. It's a long time to be with someone and to have those particular feelings. But she thought she wanted to be her own boss and it's not up to me to stop her. I'm living with someone else now but you always think, 'What would have happened if -?' or 'Was it necessary?'"

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"I feel terribly sorry for them [his two children]. Both my ex and myself really had to come up the hard way. The kids haven't had to do that. In a lot of ways it would be better if they'd had to fend for themselves. I talk to them but you know kids - they don't listen.”